Networking for Success

"It's funny how I find people with a million connections lacking the simple art of networking. Networking isn't just about knowing someone, it's about connecting with them"

It's fun to find profiles of professionals having a headline explicitly mentioning the number of connections they have. That's probably because they consider their connections as assets and believe that it enhances their profile's credibility and reach. However, a simple rule for networking is to create an environment to garner mutually beneficial relationships. These relationships are built around sharing of information and ideas. In order to make sure that your connections work for you, it's important to network with them. Here's one way to do that :

• List down the objectives : It's important to list down the reasons you wish to network with your connections. It may be because you're looking for information about certain industries, job functions, areas of career development, etc. It's important to understand the goal to narrow down to the connections you wish to network with.
• Top 20 professionals : Once you've understood the objective behind networking, you may want to create a list of connections you want to target. The list may include clients, colleagues, friends, mentors, etc. These professionals would help you reach the goal you've penned down.
• Connect with them : It's important to connect with them via the right medium. Schedule an hour a week to connect via call, mail, etc or invite them for a cup of coffee. Make sure that you're making yourself useful for them too. It can be a simple start, like providing some insights about the industry, your perspective about the future growth, their organization's news, etc. It's great to do some research before you make the first approach to make sure that you're not shot down.
• Re-evaluate your strategy : Once every 20 weeks, it's important to re-evaluate your strategy and try understanding whether the top 20 professionals you've filtered hold relevance in achieving the networking goals you've set. It's better to add/remove connections who are unresponsive to your requests and replace them with other connections you have.
• Create a strategy : It's important to create a strategy to reach out to connections and network with them. Your strategy may include a phone call every month, an e-mail with the relevant industry update, sharing a news article relevant to the job role/industry, congratulating them for their success, etc.

With these steps in mind, one can make a strong networking strategy. Do leave a note with the networking strategy you follow, success stories, reviews and suggestions.